The history of Imperial Japan, from the Meiji Restoration through to defeat and occupation at the end of the Second World War, is central to any understanding of the way in which modern Japan has developed and will continue to develop in the future. This wide-ranging accessible and up-to-date interpretation of Japanese history between 1868 and 1945 provides both a narrative and analysis. Describing the major changes that took place in Japanese political, economic and social life during this period, it challenges widely-held views about the uniqueness of Japanese history and the homogeneity of Japanese society. (Longman)

It is suggested that, insofar as coalowner stereotyping rests upon the denigration of pit clubs, it stands in need of substantial modification. It is true that many coalowners organised pit clubs for their own purposes, and that the assistance they provided was seriously and sometimes scandalously deficient. However, it is shown that many owners offered their pit clubs significant financial support, and that the clubs provided their members with benefits in a form, and on a scale, which both contributed towards the relief of coalfield suffering and compared well with the assistance provided by the other agencies to which coalminers and their dependants had access.

The turn of the millennium generated a spate of reflections on the state of the nation and the ways in which life in Britain had changed during the course of the twentieth century. Affluence and Authority contributes to this debate by providing a wide-ranging, well-informed and accessible interpretation of British social history during a hundred years of profound, and almost certainly unprecedented, economic, political, cultural, demographic and ideological change. This book lays particular emphasis upon material conditions in accounting for the underlying stability of society during the course of this turbulent and troubled century. It argues that despite the fact that many groups shared only haltingly and uncertainly in the benefits of economic growth, it is the long-term improvement in the standard of living that provides the single most important key to understanding the social history of twentieth-century Britain. The balance between economic and social developments is analysed thoroughly. Indeed, one of this book's central purposes is to challenge the view that economic gains were undermined by social losses, that the British people failed to respond as constructively as they should to the economic improvements they enjoyed. John Benson's thought provoking study also suggests that social class should be set alongside categories such as age, gender and ethnicity when attempting to analyse the ways in which British social history developed during the course of the twentieth century.

British coal-mining history has long been influenced by the classic, conflictual view of industrial relations, according to which the history of the industry is best understood in terms of a courageous trade union leadership inspiring a united workforce in an unending struggle against self-interested and intransigent employers. Accordingly, it is the purpose of the paper to argue that the miners' permanent relief fund movement repays more serious attention than the conventional perspective allows. It will be shown that the movement attracted a large membership, and provided the mining community with a major source of compensation for industrial accidents. It will be suggested that the permanent relief funds owed their success not just to their administrative efficiency but to the collaborationist foundations upon which they were predicated. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

"A Nation of Shopkeepers" reflects research on retail history and cultures of consumption. The contributors challenge existing ideas about retail development, showing how, for example, large-scale retailers played a far lesser role in the development of the modern city that is generally thought, and how the success of department stores was determined less by "entrepreneurial" spirit and more by the unforseen consequences of legislation. With the growing interest in cultures of consumption, this book should be useful to specialists and students in retail history, human geography and social and cultural history. (I.B. Taurus publishers)